That being said,I have to agree with Fieldmarshaldj as far as considering Jeff Fitzgerald the strongest choice we could run, and Newmann the weakest. I don't think Newmann would be as disastrous as Katherine Harris's bid in FL or Angle in NV, but there's no doubt his track record in political campaigns is poor and he would be in an uphill battle against Baldwin in November if he were the GOP nominee.
We keep snatching defeat from victories in these Senate races because some in the "Tea party" insist the weakest candidate in the primary is the only "true conservative". I'm not buying it, they're all reliably conservative and we need to run a strong candidate.
I really haven't looked into Eric Hovde as he's the unknown in this primary. I'm hesitant to believe he's the second coming of Ron Johnson aside from the superficial similarity of them both being successful businessmen before throwing their hat into a Senate race.
In this were the late 90s or early 2000s, TT would win the Senate primary in a walk and go on to crush any Democrat. Alas, this is 2012 and it's been 12 years since he held elective office, so he's no longer the powerhouse he used to be. I thought a presidential bid was doable but unfortunately it went nowhere, and now it's 5 years since the Iowa caucuses and he's very old to be starting a freshman career in the U.S. Senate, especially with the 6 year terms they have. His name is probably still held in high esteem by those who remember his tenure as Governor, and I think he'd make a good Senator, but his best years are behind him.
I see a lot of potential in Jeff Fitzgerald, he's been in politics for 12 years and is a solid success story, as well as a solid part of the Walker revolution that has transformed the state. At 45, he's also young enough to be a rising star in national politics. Curiously, his website mentions some conservative favorites like staunch pro-2nd amendment views, but is silent on social issues. I'm pretty sure he's socially conservative so I wonder why the omission.
>> But prefering Thompson over Newmann? No to status quo. <<
How is Thompson the "status quo" but Newmann isn't, Syncro? Mark Neumann is a former U.S. Congressman with lots of national connections, who has been running for federal office in Wisconsin for the last 20 years. You must be one of those freepers who was convinced that Newt Gingrich and Rick Perrry were "Anti-establishment". lol. Being in politics for decades doesn't make someone an "outsider", sorry. (even if they're part of a political fringe like Ron Paul, they still have plenty of clout in government) And when it comes to their respective records in office, I'll take Thompson over Newmann any day.
I was in error, Neumann hasn’t run 6 times... he’s run 7. Of the two races he did manage to win, his “greatest” margin of victory was 4,000 votes (50.8%) over a Democrat moonbat in his last successful run for office. He blew a winnable special election in 1993 against Peter Barca when Les Aspin vacated the seat (Neumann ran against Aspin, and Aspin obliterated him by almost 17%), and even when he defeated Barca the next year, he still couldn’t get to 50% even as the GOP landslide swept the nation (indeed, absent that sweep, Neumann would never have even won office at all). As long as Neumann remained in that seat, he was at risk for defeat (yet when Ryan succeeded him in 1998, he blew away that same moonbat Neumann did in ‘96, but Ryan won by over 14% as Neumann went down to the unpopular Feingold).
I’ll say it again, what has Neumann done to earn election to the office ? What has he done lately ? Basically, you can sum him up as a career political office-seeker for 20 years who had two terms in office that ended 14 years ago, for which he could barely hold (and only won in the first place due to a national sweep).
And Syncro, yes you did attempt to link the discussion of Neumann with a comparison to Ted Cruz. Go look up your post #20. You still have yet to come up with a compelling reason to support Neumann given the above record.